


All Grown Up

by Usedtobehmc



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gen, Ghosts, Phase Four (Gorillaz), Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 07:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10962462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Usedtobehmc/pseuds/Usedtobehmc
Summary: Noodle doesn't like it when the ghosts are up to no good.





	All Grown Up

The Ghost House was surrounded by crumbled sidewalks, decrepit pavement, and foreclosed properties… but Noodle loved it because there were people around.  There were places to go, clubs that played music, restaurants that served American comfort food that instantly made you feel better when you were drunk at 4am.  

It wasn’t like Kong studios; high on a mountaintop surrounded by wilderness, a landfill, a hell-pit and zombies for good measure.  Where it was too dangerous to go outside on the worst days, and still not a very good idea on the best days.

It wasn’t like Plastic Beach; beautiful, but solitary and toxic.  A million miles from nowhere.  And she hadn’t even spent that much time there… but she could see that much.

The Ghost house was not a palace, but it was home.  It was someplace Noodle was glad to have a key to.

There was a small skip in her step as she made her way home; it had been a long night of dancing to pounding music and enjoying tasty cocktails.  Her head was swimming and her ears were ringing, but she rode the high of an exhilarating exhaustion all the way home.  She hummed to herself, a song she’d been thinking about fleshing out for the next album.  Something bouncy but gritty.  Something with distortion and trumpets.  

As she unlocked the front door and took her first step inside, she felt the presence of curious spirits peering at the door, the chill in the air as a few greeted her unseen.  She had come to think of them as friends: some of them, anyway.  She couldn’t see them, but there were a few that she could distinguish by the feeling in the air.  One she had named Green.  Another she had named Kitten.

There was one spirit she didn’t care for at all, and its name was Tendril.  She felt Trendril’s presence now, pacing the ceiling of the living room, where Murdoc was sitting in his favorite chair by the embers of a dying fire in the hearth.  A spike of protective instinct flared up in her gut.  Tendril was up to no good.  

Murdoc heard her come in and looked up from his drink; an almost-empty bottle of whiskey.  “Nooooooods,” he groaned with a smirk.  “Good night?”

“I had fun,” Noodle answered, keeping a wary eye on the ceiling, though she knew she wouldn’t see anything.

“You pull?”  

She tsked, a grin crawling across her face.  “Do you see anyone else here?”

“Shame,” Murdoc took a swig, sighing as he swallowed.  “You should always have somebody.”

Noodle slid out of her jacket and let it fall to the floor.  “Are you alright?”

He made a noise, a quintessential “Murdoc noise” a low groan from the back of his throat.  “Tired.”

“Let us take you to bed then.”  She took the bottle from his hand and finished the last of it with a flourish, tossing the empty bottle into the fireplace, where it made a satisfying crash.  She pulled Murdoc up by his elbow and swiftly slung his arm over his shoulders.  He was taller than her, but skinny and easy to support.  

As they climbed the staircase, Noodle felt Tendril swirling angrily as he faded from the room.  Bastard.  Of course Tendril would pick on Murdoc; the most vulnerable to his antics.  

Noodle escorted Murdoc to his door and opened it for him, then lifted his arm from around her shoulders.

He paused with his eyes to the floor.  “You don’t need me anymore, do yah?”  More a statement than a question.  

“Murdoc,” she slid her arms under his and pulled him into a hug.  She rested her head on his shoulder for the first time in… well, a very long time.  “I never _needed_ you.”

She felt him deflate, and she felt one of his bony, calloused hands land on her back between her shoulder blades.  

She pulled back and looked him in the eye.  “But it’s nice having you around.  I prefer that.”  

He met her gaze slowly and a softer expression crossed his features.  He patted her shoulder and went to his room, shutting the door gently behind him.  

She stood in the hallway for a while, and ghosts swirled past her, curious at her stillness.  


End file.
